Both allies and enemies stopped once the dust cleared.
What they had just witnessed was a bending technique that was unheard of, even in history.
Well, they had witnessed one at the beginning of the battle, the blue beam, but that one didn't cause as much death as this technique.
As the dust cleared, only Akashi was revealed standing. Bodies were scattered everywhere, and those who had been in front had been torn by pressure. The ones behind were in no better condition. All of their wounds were bleeding. As for whether they were alive or dead, no one knew. But if they were alive, it was only a matter of time before they bled out, and they needed urgent medical care.
In this world, where wars were common, bleeding from the mouth was a certain sign of internal damage.
"He… He defeated them… How many?" One of the rebel army asked, shaking.
"This… it's in the tens… no, hundreds… No, even more."
"And here I thought the leader was a monster. The Founder is a monster as well."
The allies shook as they looked forward in anticipation. In this war, which scaled about a hundred thousand against a hundred thousand or more, a thousand dying wasn't a small number. If it meant anything, it broke the balance of the battle. And it raised the morale of one side and destroyed the others.
On the other side, the reaction to the attack was far from good.
"How… all of them are dead."
"Not even the Earth Walls could stop it."
"We… we should escape."
"No. Think about it, do you think he's the Avatar to do such a thing again. It's just one trick. At best, he can do it a few more times."
"Good idea. Why don't you go first."
"I don't wanna. I'm too good at thinking."
"Then shut the fuck up."
The soldiers knew that Akashi wouldn't be able to replicate such an attack as much as he wished. He wasn't the Avatar, and his Chi could get exhausted.
But they knew that one more attack like that, even one, was enough to end a large portion of them.
No one wanted to be the sacrificial lamb. Or rather, be part of the sacrificial lambs.
"If he's waiting for us, surround him and attack him from a distance. Circle around and make distance." A man who seemed to be a commander ordered.
Before the soldiers could follow orders, a strange phenomenon happened. They suddenly lost control over their bodies.
Not only that, but they turned and began bending the earth, using movements that seemed advanced and required agility beyond what the soldiers' armor could provide.
Moreover, even the nonbenders began using bending movements.
The earth moved, attacking the other earthbenders.
Akashi turned his head, looking at Amon, who walked in with his hands in his pockets.
"Interesting. To puppet the benders and make them use bending against their allies is a good strategy." Akashi praised. He was genuinely impressed, and Amon deserved the title of the strongest normal bender.
In the show, they had him dead in a ridiculous way, and Akashi could see why. After all, he hadn't shown his potential.
'Not only is he making them bend, but he's controlling more than a hundred soldiers at once.' Akashi nodded.
"Forget about it." Noatak shook his head. He had thought that training for a half year had put him a league above Akashi.
But it seemed that the bloodbender wasn't the only one who was getting stronger.
"My advice," Akashi replied, "Discard the nonbenders with suicidal attacks and bloodbend the benders instead. That will make it more advantageous."
Noatak nodded slightly, before saying, "That attack? Did it drain you? In that case, you should take a break."
Akashi paused for some time. He then chuckled and shook his head.
Pointing his hands forward, Akashi laughed and said, "That attack is the least draining one I had. I still have more up my sleeve. For one, I still haven't used my airbending techniques."
Noatak narrowed his eyebrows, "Aren't you an airbender?"
"More like a subbending." Akashi raised his hands.
A large amount of wind started moving, creating a massive Rasengan above his head. A house-sized one. Then, that Rasengan got compressed.
After all, Akashi was a bit curious how much he could do after leveling his airbending to level 40.
Some earthbenders sent dozens of earth projectiles at Akashi.
Amon controlled some puppets and used them as human shields, making them take the attacks instead of Akashi.
After finishing compressing that Rasengan into a hand-sized one, Akashi searched within the enemies to see where they had gathered the most.
Strong winds surged everywhere. Yet, the winds weren't something natural. The pressure that Akashi had just created was enough to make the atmosphere change.
He then threw the Rasengan.
A massive explosion, with a 50-meter diameter, exploded, creating a massive air spinning blade.
The soldiers that got trapped in turned into a mashed red sauce. The spinning winds soon turned red.
And the soldiers that were nearby got injured by the wind blades that headed after them.
Around 400 of them met their maker that day.
[+3 Million experience points]
[+26 million bonus experience points]
[You leveled up.]
Despite defeating fewer soldiers than in the previous attack, the bonus experience points were slightly more.
"Now, this drained me even more than the previous attack. But it took less." Akashi said disappointedly.
But everyone still halted, again, looking in shock.
Well, it may sound like an Anime's logic for people to stop and react.
But in fact, when hundreds die like this next to you, you either run or freeze.
Even the rebels felt totally useless. They hadn't even advanced to the wall yet, and the enemy suffered a massive loss, on the hand of someone who wasn't even the Avatar. Some started feeling that Akashi and Noatak were enough.
Akashi was the only one who moved naturally in such a situation. He scratched the back of his head, muttering, "This is a good attack. But Chi is a limited source, no matter how large. But, I have good ways to endlessly fight, or nearly."
He then paused.
In front of him, the enemy still had 100k or more.
He may not be able to kill all of them — The moment they declare they gave up the war, it's over.
After all, Akashi wasn't here for a genocide. These soldiers were just protecting a tyrant who was paying them well.
Well, they half deserve dying in his book.
After all, they were here, ready to kill, or not.
Even for the sake of experience points, meaningless killing wasn't his thing.
"Well, I'll kick their asses. Who lives, who dies. But who live will have to suffer most of the pain."
He muttered, walking forward.
The soldiers stood frozen, swallowing their saliva hard.
The fact that Akashi was advancing and not attempting any other weird bending movement meant that he was out of energy.
Someone with suicidal urges gathered his courage and dashed forward. Following his example were the other men.
Akashi ran forward.
The most courageous one found himself flying to the sky. The soldiers behind him didn't see the quick fists and kicks that got them.
There was a reason why Akashi raised his martial arts level — and it was to punch faster.
With high mastery, high agility, and strength stats, Akashi was barely visible. Each casual punch was about to break the sound barrier. And with each explosive sound his fist produced, followed some wavesbending, which manipulated the frequency and the wave to cause most damage to nearby soldiers.
Soldiers that didn't even contact with Akashi and stood behind the beaten one fell one after the other.
Akashi looked at them.
'Internal bleeding. If they die, they die. If they live, they'll need a lot of time to recover, and they may never be able to fight again. Anyways, I'm going to continue this.'
Akashi continued running to those who were standing. The only time he felt visible was when his feet or fists got someone. And bunch after bunch fell.
The rebels soon ran through the holes, engaging in a large fight. Their morale and belief in victory gave them an advantage.
Akashi noticed how fast the experience bar of each level was filling, and he enjoyed every second in the journey.
-x-X-x-
Above the walls, the Earth Queen watched how the battle was unfolding. Next to her were her generals and generals from neighboring cities, who happened to help her. They watched in desperation.
"Earth Queen. You never told us we were going to fight against people in Avatar's levels." A neighboring country general demanded.
"No. You should have called the Avatar." Replied another one.
"A bloodbender is already troublesome. That airbender is even more."
The queen walked away from them, not noticing how these generals fell unconscious, and headed to the edge of the wall.
She had lost everything.
The battle was already a losing one, and the number advantage they had was no more.
She looked down the walls and jumped, opening her arms and ready to meet the ground.
But suddenly, her body halted in the air.
The gravity seemed to work against her as she floated in the air.
"Now, haven't you been wondering where the second bloodbender was," said a familiar voice.
The floating queen turned her head to find Tarrlok looking at her with a wide smile.
"Didn't you forget you made me shit myself," he added.
The queen forced a smile, sweat dripping on her face.